Awakening from the Trump Nightmare

The American people can escape from the ordeal of Donald Trump’s presidency in one of three ways. But if and when they do is an irreducibly political question, not one that hinges on legal possibilities.

PARIS – The American people can escape from the ordeal of Donald Trump’s presidency in one of three ways. But if and when they do is an irreducibly political question, not one that hinges on legal possibilities.

First, there’s the Nixonian method, in which the president, worn down by the fight, simply resigns, scared and unwilling to submit to the proceedings that he sees mounting around him. But could that really be the exit taken by Trump? Does he share with his distant Republican predecessor a strong enough predisposition to melancholy? Can one picture a childish man, compulsive and narcissistic, surrendering without a fight the larger-than-life toy that is the top job in the most powerful country on the planet? I doubt it.

Second, there is Article 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1967, which spells out a process by which the vice president and cabinet can act to replace a president who has died or is prevented by reasons of health from governing. Such might have been the case, four years earlier, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, had Kennedy not died from his wounds. The possibility briefly resurfaced when President Ronald Reagan began to show the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

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There is little, only hope, to persuade that the mob who elected Trump will become rational citizens. They are motivated by a hate without reason and beyond salve. They have always been deeply embedded in the American fabric but now, electronically unified and outside the institutional corral that preserved order despite their madness, they may well turn on Trump but what, then? The unravelling of the American State is underway.

I certainly agree with your sentiment here Jim, but I think the mob is motivated by FEAR, and that it's the fear that's driving the hatred. And meanwhile, it becomes increasingly clear that some elements of our society find it useful to _exploit_ the fear rather than reduce it.

It's certainly the end of "the American century," but the possibility continues to grow that your darker conclusion is right as well: that the unraveling of the American state itself is underway.

Levy overlooks the effect of Congress on the control a president has. Congress not only can impeach a sitting president, but also refuse to pass his pet laws. The president does not make laws, he only carries them out. Congress alone makes the laws and those must conform to the limits set by the Constitution. That's a lot to try and mess with!
What the author overlooks is the effect of a blatant power play by the masters of American Fundamentalist Christianity, a belief system no less dangerous to the peace and security of the world than its Muslim counterpart. Until that power group is neutralized, just as the Islamic version must be, by freedom loving and thinking people who see through the fog of "God's Word" idiocy, the human race as a whole is in danger. All so called fundamentalist beliefs are evil, and as long as they are used to control people's minds and votes and actions, the world will be handed the likes of Trump or worse. Think about it, how would you like it if someone was in that position who really knew what was going on? We'd really be up that cliched creek! By all means, Trump isn't the worse thing going, let's just start in 2018 handing him and his controllers a Congress that won't rubber stamp their plans.

"...American Fundamentalist Christianity, a belief system no less dangerous to the peace and security of the world than its Muslim counterpart."
PLEASE TELL US HOW AMERICAN FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANITY IS NO LESS DANGEROUS THEN ITS MOHAMMEDAN COUNTERPART.

A fantasy dream, unhinged, remorseful...how else to describe Levy's "3 ways" which have no factual basis to succeed. His thought process is informed within his last 2 paragraphs. "The crowd he captivated" and ""May the mob" etc. "Crowd, mob", not people, not voters. Levy only omitted "deplorables and irredeemables". His lack of credibility does not permit a serious consideration of his article.

1) Your assessment is correct. Only when those who voted on him change the interest they had on him ONLY then the ones that finance his campaign (including Private Equity GP) will be willing to fine tune the support.
2) When the fine tune happens the reasons could be as simple as "narcissism" or "histrionic"

In the absence of a smoking gun, none of the factors mentioned by Levy will support an impeachment. As well, a sufficient number of Americans don't really care about the "revelations" about trade marks and money transfers. They care about jobs and income. If Trump delivers on these, he will not be troubled by the issues that trouble elite commentators.

People like Levy, who don't mention jobs and income issues, indicate the extent that elite opinion in divorced from the reality of daily life for large numbers of people. They have esthetic dislike of Trump. They disagree with his policies. These are legitimate grievances, but they hardly support a Bill of Impeachment. Indeed, Levy seems indifferent to the obscene maldistribution of income that has arisen due to the policies of the several consecutive administrations of both major parties. Trump's victory represents a rejection of them. Levy hangs out with people like himself and, therefore, has no idea of what the so-called "Barbarians" consider important in their lives. Can readers of PS escape the ordeal of Levy's opinions?

While I know some former Trump supporters the base has largely remained committed to Trump. He has become their Savior. This base would destroy whatever remains of the Republican party, if a vote of impeachment was positive. Trump would take them down with him. The best hope for those Republicans in Congress is to have Kushner leave (he will not be fired by Trump) with a leash on Trump and Mattis and McMaster providing a steadying hand in international affairs. We are stuck living in the nightmare.
The press, responsible members of the administration, and the opposition need to continue to point to the incompetence. Normalizing gross incompetence could make permanent what appears to be a temporary aberration.
Trump is a rapidly aging old man. His age appears to offer the most likely exit, possibly much sooner than anyone could hope.

And sadly, that may be the only remedy as so far, Congress has clearly shown they place party ahead of the constitution, the best interests of the country or the people. I suspect they will drag this out, more willing to "roll the dice" in the 2018 midterms than address the problem.

M. le nouveau philosophe Lévy makes it difficult to take seriously his musings about Americans escaping "from the ordeal of ...Trump's presidency in one of three ways," when in the first paragraph he indicates that Americans can escape that ordeal--implying a will to escape, an effort to escape, but then in the second paragraph he points out "the Nixonian method," an act that involves little or no will on on the part of Americans to escape the Trump "ordeal. The latter simply would not be one of the three ways Americans can effect the escape. Too small of an error in language? Not at all. Lévy is trying entirely too hard.
Then M. Lévy then looses this: "...predisposition to melancholy." Does he think all Americans have somehow become the snowflakes that the denizens of Palais Bourbon and Palais du Luxembourg consider the French to be, imposing insanely unrestricted immigration on la belle France?
Except for one correct expression, the rest of the article is nouveau-philosophe wishful thinking, just drivel.
That correct expression is that in the perduring US democracy, "there is one and only one boss: public opinion." But M. Lévy manages, tristement, to spoil that by wishing, obviously, that the present relatively strong support for Trump's work on rejecting mohammedans who cannot prove their purity, who cannot prove they are not rabid dogs or with a tendency in that direction, among other great parts of draining the swamp, by asking "How long will the American public tolerate the almost-daily doses of new evidence..." and "Won't all of this eventually take its toll?" Lévy is just not well informed about the present thinking by Americans about American government and politics. He has obviously not done a good job of following in de Tocqueville's footsteps.
And all of this mediocrity from the cute, Jesuit-like, "BHL," a nouveau philosophe who needs a haircut (dog whistle), a Frenchman who has plenty to worry about inside the "borders" of la belle France--actually, more to worry about there than in the US.

A number of contributors to this thread have reflected on the fact that the the author of the accompanying article has a French background.

The background of a writer is of no interest to me; it is the content of their essay that is the only thing of importance as far as I am concerned; and Bernard Henri has summed up the situation with respect to the position of the current POTUS very accurately.

Trump could drop dead tomorrow, but his cult of true believers would still be with us. That is the grim truth.

So time to quit fantasizing about getting rid of this vulgar, incompetent man and start focusing on limiting the damage he will do before we see the back of him. Chancellor Merkel seems to have arrived at this conclusion, and while it pains me to say it, the rest of Europe would be well advised to follow her lead.

Please take note, Ms. May.

Europe can serve its own interests -- and those of its friends in the U.S. -- by working calmly and rationally to help contain Trump and his administration. And in the end, Europe will be stronger for having enhanced its own independence.

@Curtis
Chancellor Merkel is indeed the First to articulate - that Europe's Security cannot rely on US/UK, as it did for Seven Decades.
Chancellor Angela Merkel now has demonstrated what Europe has always remained post 1945 - wedded to France n Germany.
Whether Europe can serve its own interests - will open a Great Game, that has always ended in tears.
Because Independence Day - for Europe - will imply jostling with Putin and Oil, besides China n India.
In discovering that Peace n Prosperity in Europe was impossible to secure for Seven Decades without US/UK - We must wish good luck.
Both to Merkel n Macron. History has a habit of repeating itself.
JS

Practically all commentators seem to live in America ... and they all made a fool of BHL (and rightly so) because they know THEIR country much better than he does ! I was going to poke fun at the bugger but my late father used to say : 'Do not shoot on an ambulance' ! So I shall refrain ...

Clinton as Sec of State oversaw the sale of uranium assets in the US to Russia.
Clinton also ran the Clinton Foundation which took in more than $1 billion US from foreign governments.
Which is why, of course, she chose to use a private email server instead of government communications. To avoid any oversight of her ILLEGAL activities.
Your sense of outrage is VERY SELECTIVE my friend. You and all of your liberal colleagues. If you didn't have double standards, you would have no standards at all.
And you make me - and millions of other Americans - absolutely SICK. This is exactly why we voted TRUMP and would do so again.

Louis, your post reminds me of a comment that one of my friends is fond of making, and that is, "50% of people are below average". I think that any Trump supporter must, by definition, fall into that category.

Trump supporters have 'shot themselves in the foot' (or was that in this instance, 'in the head'?) big-time (and the rest of us with them). Hopefully, one day, you will wake up to the magnitude of the madness of his Presidency.

You do not comprehend why Trump won. The reason why Trump won, was Hillary herself (to put it simply). She ignored Michigan and Ohio which would normally go for Democrat (they are pro labor). But Hillary in arrogance ignored folks like that. So she host the heartland vote which had enough electoral votes to defeat her. Hillary got her votes in the metro areas. She ignored the heartland and arrogantly flew over them. If Joe Biden had run or even if Bernie had run we would not be having this conversation.

You are partially right. Hillary was a flawed candidate to begin with and surrounded herself with incompetent campaign staff that made a lot of incorrect assumptions about the rust belt.

That said, the bigger question is why did Trump win the Republican nomination and Sanders take Clinton all the way to the convention? The answer is people are fed-up with politics as usual. Look at congressional approval ratings for how many years running?? BOTH parties have placed ideology and their lust for power and control ahead of our constitution and ahead of both our country's and our people's best interests for far too long. Short of exercising their 2nd amendment rights, they made their displeasure known at the ballot box, both in terms of votes cast as well as what groups didn't turn out to vote.

Four years is a long time to go through this pace of suspicion, accusation and global widespread distrust. Display with Donald Trump will soon become such a handicap for any politician that state visits, meetings or other demonstrations will be a real headache, an unfortunate obligation and nothing more. The recent meeting with the new French president was very significant in terms of visual communication: a very muscular handshake, each pushing away from the other.
A boycott of Trump coming? One way or another can be, though with great regret for an America that is shut up on itself, for the damage and the wasted time that humanity will have to endure on such a presidency.

French intellectual pretenders.. what a scam
You produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen to immediately after slaughter half of Europe !

Mr Lévy has a profound penchant towards altering not only current reality, but past well documented History.

FIRST. Nixon was not worn down by the fight. He knew he was going to lose the voting and opted out just to avoid being the first ever POTUS removed from office. Mind you he didn't have the control of House and Senate. At least until midterm elections, Trump currently does. So Mr Lévy, take it easy.

SECOND. The current advocates of 25th amendment do really need a good wine counselor. And a good read too. Because it is perfectly evident that you have NOT READ the 25th amendment.

Under such procedure, the POTUS can take back control of his Presidency on his own! Unless the VPOTUS is supported by Cabiner AND 2/3 of House and Senate together. Not even Jules Verne would envision this happening in the first Trump term. lol

THIRD. First you need a crime. Second you need to prove it. Third you need the voting. Clinton lied. It was proved. But won the vote. The US Senate voted in favor of keeping a liar in Office. Even with public opinion yelling, mind you.

I suppose you have unchallengeable evidence to attribute Trump such a slew of crimes. I know. Presumption of innocence is long gone in France (Europe too). Please show it in public of écrase ta fraise (shut the big .... up).

And Lichtman. Mr Lévy better read it. Your level of incompetence in logic and statistics is an insult to a 7 year old child.

Needless to say, you have not READ the Lichtman model. Tough shit I did, and it is as simple and unreliable as one con imagine.

The number of US Presidents was 44. This is a rather small set of observations.
Lichtman model is a simple rule of three, the forecast is "calculated" using a minuscule number of variables within a small set of prior observations (44). But the guy has been good at monetizing it as hollow skulls like you pass on his ideas without knowing what you are talking about.

That does not exclude that Trump could end up being impeached and Lichtman would become the fortune teller of the century. And filthy rich.

Over two years and counting all bets looking for Trump's demise have failed miserably. Idiocy is about repeating the same thing expecting different results.

Oh yeah about History.

Andrew Johnson had no Vicepresident.
At Reagan assassination attempt, his Cabinet swiftly met in the Situation Room and urged then VPOTUS Bush to take a helicopter and land in the White House South Lawn, which is exclusive for POTUS. The Cabinet also discussed about the nuclear football availability. They 25th amendment was on its way... but Rawhide was tough enough and quickly regained consciousness. This bunch of ..... (you name it) were never investigated.

Better you look for a viable Dem in 2020. Or else get enough relaxing pills for two Trump terms.

I think that you are the one who needs to 'take it easy', Mauricio! After reading your post I think I know who it is who "does not know what they are talking about".
Bernard-Henri Lévy has written a GREAT ARTICLE!

So now we know how americans can escape from the ordel of Donald Trump. Good to know!

Now only to figure out how to escape from the ordeal of clueless, globalists who are working hard, day and night, to destroy the middle class. Their "solutions" so far include: printing trillions of dollars/euros out of thin air, bailing out their bankster masters with the above mentioned trillions of dollars/euros, creating an unworkable, utopian, frankenstein currency union aka the depression machine, ie our beloved eurozone, flooding Europe with milions of unskilled, uneducated african and asian illegals, outsourcing all of our jobs to China etc, calling anyone who dares to criticise an extremist, populist, fascist, racist and probably also a martian or klingon. Any ideas how can we escape the ordeal of these very CREATIVE people!

Trump will leave office if he doesn’t build the wall along the Mexican border, doesn’t bump up the economy, and doesn’t return a semblance of law to America. The riotous ordinary Democrats who, childishly, follow lockstep their adolescently foul-mouthed leaders, must keep their energy up to get Trump out. And that will require what they chant and charge—proved criminal acts—which they lack.
Bernard Henri-Levy names Trump as childish, compulsive and narcissistic. True, which are reasons for his past success. Wouldn’t adults love to be as creative as a child? Obama compulsively worked to change the American way, while Trump compulsively tries to return the Obama remains to, immigration, fiscal, and legal sanity. Obama and Trump are equally narcissistic, a trait common if not necessary for most politicians, actors and public philosophers.

There is nobody can riot quite like the French and they even celebrate a riot every year on Bastille Day... and they even have statues of rioters

Public opinion rules in France the same as anywhere else

'And growing numbers of voters are now saying as much to their representatives, who, sooner or later, will have to start listening if they want to avoid imperiling their own electoral chances.' B-H L. I expect this to occur with Pres. Macron in due course

SH says, "- Same applies in Europe...." ! How so? If that is happening in major countries of Europe, we can expect only turmoil in the current world order. But, heck ! Then, when did we have peace in our times ?

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